Chapter 32 Chapter 32 Mountain City Nine Streets
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With the guidance of a local who is familiar with the environment and walking with a purpose, the journey to find a car was not too difficult.
It was really hot. Less than half an hour after going out, the three of them looked like they had been fished out of the water. Their clothes and pants were all soaked with sweat, and their faces and hair were covered with sweat.
Seeing that he came out to lead the way before making a decision, Gu Mengran had a slightly changed impression of Zheng Yiji.
Seeing that the other party was flushed with heat and sweating profusely, and did not stop, he was no longer stingy and "took out" a brand new neck-hanging fan from his backpack and gave it to Zheng Yijie.
The air was filled with heat waves, and the ground seemed to be roasting on fire. Gu Mengran suddenly handed over a neck fan, and Zheng Yijie's eyes widened. He quickly reached out to take it, unpacked it, and hung it around his neck.
The cool breeze brushed his neck, and Zheng Yijie came back to life and breathed a sigh of relief, "It's great! You are lucky to find these supplies on the road. When I was stockpiling goods, I was only concerned about stockpiling food. When the temperature suddenly rose, I realized something was wrong. I searched around urgently and found two life-saving large fans."
"It's better to have something than nothing." The wreckage piled up like a mountain and the road was extremely difficult to walk on. Gu Mengran focused on the road under his feet and said perfunctorily.
Zheng Yijie is a man who can't sit still. He was silent for less than two minutes before speaking again: "I feel like you are not surprised at all when you see my bunker. Isn't that strange? Who would believe in the end of the world, and who would hoard so many supplies?"
Gu Mengran suddenly smiled, "We are young and have a strong ability to accept new things."
The reason why the elderly can accept it easily is that we have stockpiled more than you.
But this man was indeed very foresighted. Gu Mengran relied on his memories from his previous life to prepare for this in advance, but Zheng Yijie glimpsed the truth from the words of netizens and took action.
The generator solved the problem of electricity, the well in the backyard solved the problem of water, and the fuel included gasoline, gas tanks, and even a lot of dry firewood. He was well prepared, and if he hadn't misjudged natural disasters and man-made disasters, he could have survived alone in the basement for a long time.
Of course, the prerequisite is that you can endure loneliness.
You have to be rich! Gu Mengran looked at Zheng Yijie's frail back and suddenly became curious. What did this guy do before? How could he be so rich without working?
The neck fan sped up their journey. Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao followed Zheng Yiji "over mountains and across rivers". Ten minutes later, the three of them stood in front of a ruin that was almost unrecognizable as what the building had once been.
It was undoubtedly a shoddy construction. Compared with other buildings on the road, the land in front of us was not even in ruins. It was a complete ruin, a garbage dump made up of broken bricks and rubble.
Zheng Yijie was very familiar with this area, so without Gu Mengran saying anything, he led the two of them through the ruins with ease, and soon found a separate entrance to an underground garage.
The garage is adjacent to the building. Fortunately, it was not buried, but the glass roof was smashed to pieces by the falling debris. The entire frame is shaky and may collapse at any time.
The anti-slip ramp is piled with a lot of gravel and cement blocks. It is not a problem to walk in, but it is a big problem to drive out.
Now that I'm here, I'll go in and look for danger.
The three of them covered their heads with their hands, avoided possible falling debris, and ran into the underground parking lot in one go.
Just going down a non-slip slope, the temperature dropped several degrees in an instant. The cold and damp breeze brought coolness and easily drove away the summer heat.
It was cool, but it was dark, the sensor lights were not on, and the underground garage was like a dark and silent primeval forest. Countless unknowns lurked in the darkness, dangerous and mysterious.
“Bang!”
Two high-power flashlights lit up one after another, and the people leading the way became Gu Mengran and Liang Zhao, who walked slowly along the passage.
There were not as many cars as expected. I don't know if they were driven out during the disaster or if business was slow in this place. There were more empty parking spaces than cars. At a glance there were only a few cars here and there.
Fortunately, the parking lot was large enough, and they walked to the right from the entrance and saw many cars along the way. Unfortunately, there was not a single bus they had been looking for, and after half a circle, they saw mostly sedans and SUVs.
Gu Mengran made a rough calculation. There were thirteen of them, and if Zheng Yijie came with them, there would be fourteen of them. A car has five seats, so at least three cars would be needed.
Three cars require three drivers. There is no way to take turns driving.
He was almost diagnosed with lumbar muscle strain in a week. If he continued like this, wouldn't he suffer from lumbar disc herniation? Gu Mengran still wanted to find a few more buses. When the fog was light, there would be no need to explore the road. He and Liang Zhao could take turns driving and both could have a proper rest.
Ideals are full, but buses do not exist. I almost searched all the parking lots, and apart from small vehicles, I only found two seven-seater commercial vehicles and a few shabby vans, but not a single bus.
"never mind."
The swaying light shone on his feet again. Gu Mengran raised his eyes and looked at Liang Zhao, then raised his chin and looked at Zheng Yijie, "Is there any other underground parking lot nearby? We mainly want to find a bus."
"Yes, there is." Zheng Yijie paused, looking embarrassed. "There is also a large underground parking lot over at Tsukishima Park. I went there after the earthquake, but that place... is only two blocks away from Ninth Street."
Two streets? Gu Mengran hesitated and was about to ask Liang Zhao for his opinion, but Liang Zhao spoke before him: "Take me there."
It took Zheng Yijie a few seconds to realize that Liang Zhao was talking to him. He reacted violently, took a big step back, and said in horror: "What do you mean I should take you there? You think it's dangerous so you don't let him go?"
Realizing that the focus had gone astray, Zheng Yijie pulled his scattered thoughts back and turned to Gu Mengran and said, "Really don't go there, it's too dangerous. Don't you think that business car is okay? Let's just take those two. Two cars are just right for the thirteen of you."
Two commercial vehicles are just right for 13 people, but as the temperature gets higher, it won't take long for the air conditioner to break down or the tire to burst, just like before. If you don't have the skills and tools to repair a car, it's a good idea to have more cars.
There was no way to explain to Zheng Yijie, so Gu Mengran laughed dryly twice, "Forget about it as it's close to Ninth Street. How about this, you take Liang Zhao around to see if there's anything else, and I'll go see if those two commercial vehicles can be driven."
"Not together?" Zheng Yiji felt strange and couldn't help but look at Meng Ran twice.
Together? The car can't be driven out, how can we pack up the business car and take it away together?
Gu Mengran had thought of an excuse and was just about to fool Zheng Yiji when suddenly, a mix of chaotic footsteps and a rough male voice came from not far away.
"Someone's talking? Is this true? Are you hallucinating because of the heat?"
"You're the one hallucinating because of the heat. I almost walked into the basement just now and heard everything clearly!"
"Tsk, that's weird. Didn't the second brother say that all the survivors in this area were taken back? Who is being lazy here?"
"How would I know? Didn't I ask you to come and see?"
The footsteps came closer and closer, and the conversation between the two men came into the basement very clearly.
Gu Mengran's breath was choked, and he and Liang Zhao turned off the flashlight at the same time. Without further ado, the three of them hid behind the black car next to them and blended into the darkness silently.
As the light dimmed, the underground parking lot returned to endless darkness, and the faint light that was blocked by the strong flashlight slowly lit up. Ten meters in front of where they were just now was another entrance to the basement.
Two beams of light came in one after another, and the sound of footsteps was getting closer and closer. Two muscular, tall and strong men walked briskly into the parking lot, cursing.
The two did not immediately go into the parking lot. Instead, they stood at the entrance holding steel pipes as thick as their arms, waving flashlights around and shouting at the top of their lungs:
"Who's in there? Come out, quickly!"
"Stop hiding like a rat and come out here!"
After waiting for a long time without any response, one of the shorter men asked the man next to him: "Could it be that he is not one of ours?"
Hearing this, the tall man cleared his throat and immediately changed his words: "Ahem, we are from Ninth Street. Are you the survivors around here? Don't hide anymore, come back to the air-raid shelter with us!"
The beam swept in all directions, and the three of them hid behind the car without moving, not daring to make a sound. Especially when he heard the word "Jiujie", Zheng Yijie's body trembled violently, and he became visibly nervous.
Footsteps sounded again, and the two people who could not wait for a response were moving in their direction. A beam of light shone accurately into the parking space and quickly moved away. Gu Mengran's nose was sweating, and his hands hanging by his side involuntarily grabbed Liang Zhao and Zheng Yijie's arms.
The former was puzzled and looked back at Gu Mengran. Liang Zhao immediately held Gu Mengran's hand and shook his head slightly. His deep eyes seemed to say: Don't expose the space easily.
There are only two of them, so there is no need to expose the space to outsiders.
If you can hide, hide. If you can’t hide, fight. If you can’t fight, run!
Gu Mengran was ready for a fight, but the two men walked straight past the front of the car with flashlights, with no intention of stopping to search carefully.
Gu Mengran let out a long sigh of relief as his tense nerves suddenly relaxed. At this moment, a series of sharp and rapid cell phone ringtones suddenly rang out beside him: "Ding-ling-ling-ding-ling."
"Fuck, my alarm clock!"
Zheng Yiping was frightened and frantically searched his trouser pockets for his cell phone.
The ringing sound was infinitely amplified in the quiet underground parking lot, one ring after another. Before Zheng Yijie could take out his phone to turn off the alarm, two sturdy men heard the sound and looked at the black car, turning around and walking quickly.
"run!"
There was a deafening shout, and someone pulled Gu Mengran's wrist hard. Gu Mengran, who was half-squatting on the ground, was pulled up by Liang Zhao's brute force.
The high-intensity flashlight fell to the ground with a "click", but no one cared at all. Without any hesitation, Liang Zhao pulled Gu Mengran and ran away.
Gu Mengran still held Zheng Yijie with his other hand, and he stood up suddenly and almost dragged him to the ground. Fortunately, Zheng Yijie had a good balance ability, and he supported the car to stabilize his body in time, and ran quickly with Liang Zhao and Gu Mengran.
There was no communication or exchange. The three people had the same goal, which was an entrance and exit with a faint light not far ahead.
Gu Mengran was running wildly for his life, not paying attention to what was behind him. It was not until he stepped onto the anti-slip ramp and heard no more footsteps behind him that he realized that the other party did not seem to intend to catch up with him.
Why didn't he chase her again? Just as he was wondering, the anti-slip ramp came to an end, and the gray sky gradually enlarged and appeared before his eyes bit by bit.
The moment he walked out of the garage, Gu Mengran finally understood why the other party stopped chasing him.
It was not the exit we came from, nor the road we came from. The messy ruins turned into a clean and tidy road.
Rubble was piled up on the side of the road, with excavators humming, men carrying stones, and women sweeping up construction debris. The streets were crowded with people in groups of two or three.
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